Holders for needles and like articles



y 20, 1969 N. T. SANDERS 3,444,995

HOLDERS FOR NEEDLES AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed June 2'7, 196'! l9 lb l7 /l8 IC d Imam-roe.

NORMAN THonfiS smmees N KWS'K 0.,

AGENT United States Patent O US. Cl 206-66 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A holder for needles and the like having a base to which the needles are secured and a transparent cover slidable along the base to expose the needles for removal. The base is formed with a crease to enable it to be folded away from the cover to facilitate removal of the needles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to a holder for containing elongated articles and has been developed primarily for containing sewing needles but is applicable to other elongated articles of the same order of size and in relation to which similar or analogous requirements arise as to protection, display for sales purposes, and storage by the user after sale. Examples of such other articles are, ordinary headed pins, safety pins, hair pins and hair clips or grips all of which are of elongated form, are of light weight and are generally required to be stored and protected in sets preparatory to sale after which the articles may be used singly. Such articles are hereinafter referred to as being of the kind specified.

Description of the prior art Holders for articles of the kind specified which are already known include one in which the needles are retained on a paper or card base by penetrating engagement with folds provided thereat, the base having flaps which can be folded to form in combination with the base an envelope for the needles.

The object of the present invention is to provide a new or improved holder which meets the above requirements satisfactorily and has certain advantages as will be apparent from the following description or as will be specifically pointed out therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention a holder for articles of the kind specified comprises a base member of sheet material on which the articles are mounted, and a cover member of sheet material engaged slidably with the base member and movable from a first position in which it overlies the articles to a second position in which, whilst remaining in slidable engagement with the base member, it exposes portions of the articles to allow same to be removed from the holder, the cover member including at least a portion which is transparent or translucent to permit the articles to be seen when the cover member is in its first position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a view upon an enlarged scale in side elevation and in cross-section of one form of holder in accordance with the invention for containing sewing needles,

FIGURE 2 is a view in front elevation, and

FIGURE 3 in a view in cross-section on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The holder comprises a base member 10 of sheet material such as cardboard which is sufficiently stiif to maintain its shape against crinkling or crumpling endwise on compressive loading in the plane of the sheet.

Conveniently, the base member 10 is of generally rectangular form and at opposite ends includes projections 11 and 12 with respect to its longer sides 13.

The needles are retained on the base member by a mounting means comprising a piece of sheet material 14 such as paper adhesively or otherwise secured to the front face of the base member and to which in turn is adhesively or otherwise secured a piece of cloth 15 (or other material) formed with raised portions or folds 16 and 17 penetrated by the needles 18.

Overlying the needles is a cover member 19 formed of a transparent or translucent material such as cellulose acetate. The cover member is slidable longitudinally of the base member between a first position as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 in which it wholly overlies the needles to a second position in which it is disposed to the right of the position shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 and would then expose these portions of the needles lying to the left of the fold 16.

Preferably, and as shown, the cover member includes marginal portions 20 of channel shape which embrace marginal portions 21 of the base member 10 to provide for the requisite longitudinal sliding movement of the cover member whilst retaining same in assembled relationship with the base member. As a possible alternative the slider might be formed as a tubular member or sleeve in which case it would have a rear wall lying at the rear side of the base member and providing the requisite retention of the cover member in established relation with the base member.

The limits of sliding movement defining the first position and the second position are determined by the projections 11 and 12 against which the adjacent ends of the cover member abut.

The base member 10 may be formed with a crease 22 or fold zone extending parallel and adjacent to the fold 16 to enable the end part of such member to the left of such crease 22, as seen in FIGURE 2, to be bent hingedly rearwardly away from the needles 18 to facilitate the gripping of the latter by the user.

This holder has the advantage that it is capable of production at low cost, provides satisfactory protection for the needles both before sale during display, and subsequently when in the possession of the user, and also provides for ready extraction, and if required replacement, of the needles singly by the user.

What I claim is:

1. A holder for needles and like articles, comprising in combination an elongated base member of sheet material having a pair of longitudinal side edges and relatively wide first and second end portions projecting laterally outwardly beyond said side edges to provide first and second pairs of stop ears at the respective ends of the base member, a needle carrier mounted on said base member adjacent the first end portion thereof and in longitudinally spaced relation from the second end portion, said carrier including at least one transversely extending keeper portion adapted to have a plurality of needles passed longitudinally therethrough in transversely spaced relation from each other, and a cover member superposed on said base member and having opposite longitudinal edges provided with opposing channels slidable along the longitudinal edge portions of the base member, said cover member having a lesser longitudinal dimension than the distance between said first and second pairs of stop ears whereby the cover member may be slid relative to the base member between a closed position wherein one end of the cover member abuts the first pair of stop ears and an open position wherein the other end of the cover member abuts the second pair of stop ears, said cover member in its closed position completely covering said needle carrier and in its open position leaving uncovered a portion of the needle carrier adjacent the first end portion of the base member.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said base member is provided with a transverse fold line underlying said needle carrier and located substantially to coincide with said one end of said cover member when the latter is in its open position, whereby the portion of the base member from said fold line to the first end of the base member may be swung away from the uncovered portion of the needle carrier in the open position of the cover member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,919,797 1/1960 McCracken 206-4534 306,509 10/ 1884 Mansom 229-20 2,985,296 5/ 1961 Kahn.

10 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

J. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

